By A Thread
by dancinpelicans
Summary: Its been too long since he'd seen her, he's barely hanging on. The control he holds dear is slipping through his fingers. Meliodas tries, and fails, to protect Elizabeth from himself. — rated M for MATURE themes, my dears. (Manga Spoilers)
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to... this. I'm calling this the story I shouldn't write. I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to review.**

_**DISCLAIMER:**_**i own nothing, just playing with some characters i simply enjoy. **

**Rated M for a reason **

—

It was a normal night at the tavern. The room was filled with noise as the towns' working class relaxed to let go of their long day. Men filled the tables and lined up at the bar, the sound of beer filling up the mugs was almost a constant. Every so often a story being told would earn a collective laugh from the crowds. Everything was normal.

Until it wasn't.

The barkeep, a young man with an unruly mop of blond hair kept moving throughout the space, working effortlessly to keep up with his customers. Many drunkenly commented of his age, or his cooking. He refilled their drinks anyways.

This mans' name is Meliodas. He is not young. He is quiet old, around 3,000 years to be exact. Currently, he was collecting bits & pieces of information covertly. He needed to know where his comrades, the Seven Deadly Sins, were. Ten long years they'd been separated. It had taken him a long while to stop the worst of his grieving. For his scattered friends, and for Liz.

The break had been healthy & good, in the end. His powers were less than they used to be, and for that he is thankful. It made it so much easier to get himself under control after this recent betrayal. He is the Sin of Wrath for a reason, you know.

In order to do so, he had a tight lock on his emotions. Being a tavern owner suited him, as he never had to get too personal with the guests. Just a charming young man, and a horrible cook to drive people back to their homes. Well, that and he was just a horrible cook anyways.

Occasionally, his thoughts were interrupted by darker ones. Now that he had it locked down, it happened less so. It wasn't so much a separate person, his wrath, but a different lens he could look through. A startling lens, as much himself as his toes, even though he didn't much like to admit it.

Currently he was participating in a fascinating conversation about a 'Wandering Rust Knight'. Not much of a lead, but more interesting than the fairytales he'd heard about himself a thousand times over. Didn't sound like much. None of his companions would wander around in rusty armor. That's just uncomfortable. Except maybe Gowther, but that armor was magic.

Hawk was muttering something about rust, but I wasn't paying attention. I was focused on NOT thinking about my last encounter with the sins. NOT thinking about the Grand Master's death. And absolutely NOT thinking (**anger**) about the (**blood**) battle (**and the killing**) that ensued after the fact. Definitely NOT **thinking about that. **

The door burst open, and the screams of the people made it hard to continue staying calm. It took all my focus, frozen, as I watched the individual make its way through the door. What do you know, an actual wandering rust knight. Too small to be Gowther. What a bust.

The bar empty, I leapt over the counter. "Who are you?"

All I could smell is rust. Something, though, was off. I could sense it. It wasn't until the soldier fell back, and then helmet clattered to the floor that I knew. Her scent was faint but it didn't take me but a breath to know.

**(Elizabeth)**

"It's... a girl!"

—

Frozen.

That's how I felt while we took Elizabeth upstairs. I wasn't breathing more than I needed too. Her scent was (**outstanding!**) overwhelming me. I hadn't seen her since... it had been a long time. (**too long**).

I had to think fast. But it was so SO hard to think, seeing her face, her eyes closed as I carried her upstairs. Hawk was wondering aloud, but it didn't warrant a response from me. I knew who she was. But why was she here?

**She's here for us **

I shook my head gently, laying the princess down on the bed. It was never good when my darker thoughts were clear. Her presence is too much, pulling forth old emotions I just do not have time to unpack right now.

**Touch her**

I swallowed thickly, careful not to let my emotions rise to my face as I raised my arm to scratch the back of my head.

Suddenly I was moving, approaching her, "The sleeping face" **she is beautiful **

"Those curves" **all grown up **

"The smell" I inhaled her scent**, my Elizabeth**

I couldn't stop my hand as I touched her "the firmness..." I whispered, squeezing her breast gently. "I knew it! It is a girl!"

So different from Liz. I'd been through many reincarnations of my love, but Liz I loved more than many. We had more time together. We got to live together.

Then she **died **in front of my eyes. A **horrible, brutal death. **

This Elizabeth was more like the first than any before her. Her silver hair, perky breasts, gorgeous blue eyes.

Wait.

"Uhh... can I help you?" spoke the soft voice. Red covered her cheeks. I could hear her heartbeat faster under my hand, still squeezing... still squeezing?

**Agh **I jumped back. "Her heart beats regular!"

Hawk was yelling at me. **Idiot. **My face gave nothing away, as usual, a perfect act. On the inside I was struggling.

I promised to keep my distance from her this time. Staying away and detached was the best way not to get hurt again. Not to get her killed again. Logically, I knew this. But... touching her. Smelling her. It let part of me relax.

**Idiot. **She doesn't know you. You're a stranger. Keep her guard up, in case yours fails. Only one problem, with that one touch, I could tell.

**This is going to be interesting. **

—


	2. Chapter 2

**Two in one day. Aren't you lucky? **

**As always, I own nothing & read at your own risk. **

**This chapter is a tad ****_risque..._**

—

*thunk* the door shut and I slid my head against it. What a fucking day. I slammed my fist against the door, gently.

This fucking woman. How is it she always ends up at my door, or myself at hers? The curse is just as strong as it is ridiculous. I left _years_ ago! She has no memories of me, or very little. As it should be, for now.

**Goddesses it's hard not to touch her. **Running for her life, then walking straight into certain death... she's more like the first than I expected. My love has always been a warrior, but the previous forms were different. Usually she remains entirely human until she suddenly remembers everything she once was. This form is different. She's got that spark of unending kindness. Her scent sparkles faintly with goddess power, and she has no idea.

Meliodas tapped the door once more in frustration, before turning towards the bed.

I can't believe she let me dress her. How could I resist? This Elizabeth... Elizabeth is so formal. So polite. So kind. Always calling me Sir.

**It's infuriating. **

Somehow I made it to the bed, but I wasn't ready for sleep yet. So I turned towards the window. Some time on the roof would do me good, watching the landscape drift by until we made it to our destination.

I scaled the house with ease, off the balcony and up toward the peak. It was a well loved spot, I spent many a night up here, hanging on with one arm to the spire of the boar hat, thinking and not thinking all at once. Most importantly, my distance from the tavern made it a relatively safe place to care a little less about control.

Rising to the surface, the darkness burned my skin as I let it engulf me, unbothered by the wind of the taverns movement. Letting a little loose at night helped the ache deep in my chest and the fire in my gut settle a bit. Hawks mom had a large, earthen presence that cloaked my darkness when we were moving, letting me loose my aura without fear of being spotted. She canceled me out, allowing me to hide. A blessing in disguise, really.

My body let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Today was... well, better not to think about that. We were on our way to Vanya, which was not far but we were also not traveling fast, in hopes the princess could get some rest after a long day. Probably would arrive around midmorning tomorrow, a perfect time to head into town for more ale.

I felt the familiar string under my skin as my darkness sparked at the thought of the princess. Staring at my free hand, I admired the patterns drawn up my arm like it was the first time I had come into my power. This woman... **she did things to me. **

No. The curse is the **only** reason she shows up. The **only** reason she seems to love you, you insufferable idiot.

In a blink the darkness was gone and I stared blankly into the distance.

**I will not let her fall for me this time. **

—

"_Sir Meliodas!" shouted the woman beneath me, sprawled against the green grass as naked as the day she was born. _

_I slid my tongue up her body to capture her lips with mine, trapping her next scream as I slid into her roughly. Smiling against her lips, I groaned as we joined for the first time in what felt like a millennia, watching her orange eyes with a hooded gaze on my own. _

"_Elizabeth..."_

Suddenly I was across the room, as far from the bed as I could reach, pressing into the corner. Dawn was breaking through the open window, a cool breeze against my damp skin

**What the honest fuck?!**

I stared at the bed like it was out to get me. Or was I out to get me? That dream had felt so real. I hadn't imagined our last time together in almost 3,000 years. The last time with my true love, with all of my mate. When we were our whole selves, not broken like we are now.

Like I am now.

I pressed a hand against my raging hard on with a groan. I wanted nothing more than to lay back and sink back into that dream. To reminisce about claiming my mate before we were ripped apart. **To show her again what it meant to be fucked until she couldn't keep quiet.**No, no, that won't do. I have to keep my composure.

**She's downstairs. In the spare room. We could take her, just like old times. **

Blinking,I closed my fist and the darkness vanished. "Well, shit."

She'd been here one whole day and I was already at my wits end. I had to lock this down. If I can't keep a handle on my raging demonic hormones, I at least need a cold shower.

—

I made my way downstairs a short while later, my emotions so locked down I knew there must be a delay for my smile to reach my eyes. When Elizabeth came downstairs in that **damned uniform**, I whistled under my breath to keep my focus on my work. Doing my very best to respond to the eager princess's many questions.

I could see her lips moving, but I heard nothing. **Before I knew it I was moving, holding her breasts with gentle squeezes, wrapped around her waist. Pleased at her blush, my demon purred as I said my hellos. **

"Sir... Sir Meliodas!" She screeched as I dropped in front of her, pushing the backs of her thighs to get her core closer to my face.

**She smelled like goddess power here the most. Sparkling oranges and berries. I hummed in response to her screech, massaging my fingers along her inner thigh. A shiver of arousal was sent down my spine as she tugged on my hair, trying to get me back up. **

"Good morning, Princess!" Came my muffled greeting. **Goddesses, **she smelled like home. Like safety.

**Like sex. **

Before Hawk could charge at us both I was up and hiding behind the bar again, cleaning mugs with careful ease.

"We're almost to town." I said with a slow grin. "How about we head in for supplies first thing?"

Just like that, my advances were forgotten and the two chatted about Elizabeth's first trip to Vanya. I participated lightly, chiming in about to ales, mostly just to get that sparkling blue gaze on mine once more.

**I was doing my very best to not think about the smell of the goddesses arousal. **My demon was rolling around inside, sedated with the smell of her. Happy. This new, old goddess, so immediately attracted to me. I couldn't take advantage of her. Not here, not like this. This incarnation of Elizabeth truly deserved more.

Hawks Mom stopped us, and the two new friends exited the boar hat to take a look at the spot. I stared at the door.

Ohkay, Meliodas. We can only touch, alright? I bargained with myself. Make her blush, settle your demon, control your urges. Her guard will stay up, hopefully for long enough she won't fall in love again. Not with you, not again.

You don't deserve her.


	3. Chapter 3

I was asleep, or at least pretending to be. It was easier to be limp. Passed out was probably a better terminology. That fight with little Gill had been a rough one. It wasn't so much actual injuries as it was mental energy exhaustion. Restraining my wrath so as to cause the perfect amount of harm was difficult, even with a broken blade. Especially with my love around.

She didn't even know. She had a fucking goddess eye, and she didn't know anything about us. By all indications, she should have some inkling of her old memories by now. So much like her original self, yet no sign of the curse? **Goddesses help me. **

When I first saw that gorgeous orange eye, Elizabeth was very small. In fact, she told the story the day we met again. When her father fell from the tree. I had returned from a journey with the sins…

"_Are you coming or not, Captain?" Ban shouted around the corner, the gang already on their way to the closest pub to celebrate their victory against the North's small army. _

_I waved over my shoulder, not bothering to look behind me. _

"_Guess not…" I heard Diane pout under her breath before being distracted by King's attempts at conversation. _

_There were more pressing matters being brought to my attention. Most specifically, why I felt __**pulled **__toward the castle with all of my being. Something there was amiss… Weren't there usually guards at the castle doors?_

_A young voice screamed "Father!"_

_**Elizabeth? Baltra?**_

_My brisk walk turned into a sprint as I vaulted up the tower, going higher than needed in order to launch myself around the tower, over the wall, down the roof to the courtyard. What I saw through my darkened gaze made me hesitate, but what I sensed rooted my feet to the roof. I dropped into a low crouch. _

_A girl, __**my Elizabeth, **__bent over the crumpled form of the king. It looked like every guard or knight in the building was there also, forming a wide circle around the two. Elizabeth screamed at the sky again, sobbing, and that's when I saw it. _

_This poor, sweet girl had the goddess mark in her right eye. The healing energy, the light was __**rolling**_ _off of her. _

_My darkness prickled on my skin for the first time since my sin, startling me. I could hardly breathe, the light was too much. __**Elizabeth, she was so small…**_ _never had she manifested this early in a human life. Some small druid healing magic? Sure. Nothing like this. _

_I couldn't be here. I really couldn't be here. I could not watch her die, again, at my failure. _

_I stayed anyways. Until the guards saw the Baltra was breathing, and they pulled her off of him. I lurked until they were safe in their quarters, before I met with the Holy Knights and requested more travel. I did not stay to know whether or not she died in three days. I was not done mourning Liz, and I could not bear it another second. I had already failed her again._

_**Like a coward. **_

I could feel when they laid me at the doctors. I could feel it, but it felt blurry. Their voices sounded like it came down a long tunnel.

You see, I had locked myself in the cage with the demon. By separating my consciousness from my physical self, there was less of a chance of losing control of my wrath and causing, well, mass destruction.

Here I was sinking. I could feel my wound healing, slowly. Longer than it should have taken because I locked myself in here. It would probably scar.

*sigh*

My thoughts here were sinking into a pit of blackness. **I knew this would happen. I would become closer to **_**it, **_**to my wrath. **

**You'll have less control after this…**

My wrath laughed at me. I laughed at myself. Then we all laughed because this is fucking ridiculous. How broken do you have to be to get yourself in so many pieces?

**She makes us whole.**

The laughter died. **Elizabeth… **she does make us whole. She always has. She's accepted every nasty, broken piece of me every time. Isn't that what love is?

**No. **That's the curse. She has to be pretending. I've never been worthy of her beauty. Her grace… Her kindness.

**I vowed to protect her. **Even if that means from her love, even if that means from the curse. I vowed not to stop until this fucking thing is **broken **and she can live without me.

**Do you really want that? She is ours. OURS. OUR mate! You promised! You **_**claimed her! **_**Mark her again! Make her remember! There is only us! **

**ONLY US**


	4. Chapter 4

**This will be the last one today, as far as I have planned. A tease of what may come in the future. I am having a grand ole time inside Meliodas's head. **

**Enjoy. **

**I dreamed of fucking the princess. **Not just with my human self, but with **all of me. **I knew I was dreaming because there is no way I would claim Elizabeth _like this. _She deserved everything I had, not this **monster. **

My demon tempted me, with the darkest of images. Elizabeth, sprawled out underneath us. Wiggling with we grinded our hips in her most sensitive of spots. Elizabeth, with **bruises from our fingers, moaning our name. **

A soft smile I could feel within myself as the darkness seemed to giggle and squirm at my arousal of the brutally treated princess. At our own arousal for her, like that. **Elizabeth… like when we took her first. **

**No**, anything but that!

_We were in a glade, atop a mountain, splitting the difference between heaven and hell though slightly more in the Goddess's favor. It was fair, as We were the ones hunting her. _

_We were perched on a branch, watching the goddess bath in a secret spring. Darkness rolled off our form, hiding in the shadows of the leaves. We wore only our darkness, and the fitted coat the Goddess said she liked the best. It was 'spooky', she had said, with the strangest of laughs. A giggle, perhaps?_

_She was the embodiment of the moonlight cast upon her form. All silvers and creamy whites, freely swimming in the spring, combing out the tangles the water left in her hair. Her wings were spread along the surface, and she turned back and forth as though to rinse the waters through them. _

_Every time she shifted, it gave us quite the view. From the breathtaking outline of her breasts, still facing away from us, to the curve of the other. _

_Back and forth. Side to side. Her curves rocked with the water, as if moving to an unheard tune. Her eyes were closed, simply enjoying the feel of the water against her. _

_**We wanted to be against her. **_

_Meliodas jumped from the tree. His darkness allowed him to land with no sound, his arousal spurred the black fire across his form like pants, to accent his own wings out of the back of his coat. This was the form he existed in most often. From battle to battle meetings, the demon king's son wore his darkness nearly always. A badge of honor, of pride. _

_He slipped into the water behind the princess, wrapping her up under her wings and pulling her against his form. _

"_Meliodas!" exclaimed the girl, stunned by his advances. The demon prince had always been teasing, forward even, but never had he grabbed-naked no less! _

_Oh, but to feel his strong arms around her middle, his wings sliding around him, against hers. His breath on her neck. She wanted everything from him, all at once. _

_His hands played on her stomach a minute as they rested together. Something was different… something was wrong._

_She raised a hand to run through his hair, and her demon purred as he nuzzled her neck, rubbing small circles on her tummy. _

"_Meliodas…" She breathed. They had shared small kisses, but never been this exposed before. She didn't mind it very much, but he seemed different than his usual carefree, rebellious self. "Is something the matter?"_

_He froze, but the darkness did not stop crawling around her wings, ruffling her feathers gently. It began to creep from his legs to hers. _

_A gravelly voice came into her ears, pulling her back from the stirring sensation in her belly. "__**Elizabeth**_"

_The voice was from Meliodas, but is was _more. _It had layers that sent shivers down her spine, she arched gently and his hands pressed tighter to her stomach. He made a sound she'd never heard outside of the healing tent. A groan? Was he hurt?_

"_Are you ohkay, Meliodas?" She tried to turn in his arms but he only held her tighter. _

_The feel of the goddess was almost too much from him. He was barely separating himself from the darkness. It was attempting to consume them both and she didn't even notice. Coming here, in this condition was a mistake. How was he going to explain this to her if all he could think about was __**her ass so close to his dick?**_

"_**I am ohkay" **__he breathed wrapping himself around her more. She was his light, his safety. She was safe. Elizabeth seemed to relax a bit, waiting for him to continue, as she often did. _

_He swallowed roughly "__**It… I…**_" _If he could get closer to her without seeing her face, he may be able to say this without losing complete control. Hang onto her light, __**damn it. **_

_But she turned. She put a foot of space between them by using the water to her advantage, and turned around. One look at her face, her lip bitten in curiosity and worry, and the last of his humanity slipped through his fingers._

_**He engulfed every part of her, claiming her as he let her know what it was like to be hunted and fucked from a wild animal… a wild demon prince. **_

It had been a Blood Moon, that first night he fucked his mate. It was bloodlust turned into plain lust. They came around once every thousand years, a true Blood Moon. Orange harvest moons were a tease compared to the compelling crimson of a Blood Moon. Where demons had ravaged the earth, killing and fucking anything they could possess.

It was normal for demons to find their mate during a Blood Moon. Usually of their own kind, bonded together by the spirit of the hunt.

Meliodas had locked himself in the dungeons of hell. Two weeks a Blood Moon lasted. It waxed and then waned. If he could make it through Full Moon's Night, he would make it without committing impossible sins.

On the Full Moon's Night, he lost himself to the bloodlust and killed every demon in the way to see his mate. His wrath encompassed the whole dungeon, every person dead and the bars melted into puddles on the floors.

**We were going to take her whether you let us or not. **


End file.
